This Saturday, October 22nd and Sunday, October 23rd, Musee de Venoge, a newly restored 30-acre 1805-1815 farmstead listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be host to re-enactors demonstrating hearth cooking and food preservation in the early 19th Century manner.
The restored homestead will welcome the public by hosting a select group of artisans who will demonstrate their talents and trades. Among those participating are costume historian and pattern maker Saundra Altman, who will answer period clothing questions; Bill Richardson, who will be weaving coiled straw baskets; and Michael Thompson, a fiddle player and maker who will provide entertainment.
Fall was a busy time on the farm: produce from the kitchen garden will be harvested and preserved for the long winter ahead. Pumpkins and beans will be dried and sauerkraut made of the cabbages. Roasted venison, stews, breads and pies are just a few of the foods that will be prepared on the hearth.
Join the group as they ‘put food by’.
The house, one of the few remaining examples of French colonial architecture that once characterized settlement from New Orleans north to Missouri and east, into the Ohio Valley, was built by Frenchmen who, finding themselves without work after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, headed east.
They followed John James Dufour, a native of Vevey, Switzerland, who, in 1802, petitioned Congress to set aside lands in southern Indiana – then part of the Northwest Territory – with the promise of establishing a U.S. wine industry. In 1805, another Swiss, Louis Gex Oboussier, bought a portion of the property now called ‘Venoge’.
The event is free and open to the public.
For further information see www.venoge.org or call (812) 593-5726.